Kay Nielsen. East of the Sun and West of the Moon: East of the Sun / West of the Moon

Beautiful illustrations my favourite Kay Nielsen edition

This is probably the most beautiful book I’ve ever come across. I bought it because I remembered having a copy of East of the Sun and West of the Moon as a student, which got lost, and I wanted to see if the illustrations were as beautiful as I remembered them. This edition is the way to have that confirmed, and then some. The quality of reproduction is the best, and the way some of the colour illustrations are produced at scale over a double page is breathtaking. The fonts used, the decorative B&W panelling on the text pages – it’s all sumptuous. Kay Nielsen was such a visionary. I realise that many prominent artistic figures who came much later than him owe a lot to his vision – David Bowie to give just one example.

An Exceptionally beautiful book. I want give it 10 stars if I can.

There is a significant biographical piece at the front of this book that caught me by surprise, but after short consideration, if its an excuse to publish some more pictures then fine. It is a lovely book with good paper and good colour printing. I was worried that there might only be a few good illustrations, but there are many. I am not sure if it is a well illustrated story book or a book of art with some stories in it.If it is for children, you will have to handcuff them before letting them near it.Mine has no dust jacket, the illustration you see is printed directly on the hard cover ( a very real hard cover, the reviewer who complains of the thin cover needs to send it back and get the hardback edition).A book how books should be, a splendid example, a treasure.

Buy this book in the fantastic Taschen edition and be spell bound by the beautiful illustrations by Kay Nielsen.Superbly printed and published in hardback this is a book to treasure and to return to again and again. With informative introduction and essays on the artist, and book illustration from the era this is so much more than a book of folk tales.If ever a book needed holding in the hand and the pages turned this is it. If there were six stars to award this would get them.

This was one of my favourite books as a child so I bought this edition for myself as a special treat - and it is worth every penny and more! The illustrations have been carefully recreated, with small details picked out and used as chapter headers. The book also starts with a biography of Kai Nielsen and has examples of his earlier work that I had not previously seen. Absolutely stunning book!

I heard about this artist in a Art Appreciation Lecture about Art Deco. I had never seen any of his work before and was amazed when I saw the illustrations and paintings. If you enjoy use of the imagination and creativeness you will enjoy this. I hope to explore more of his work in the future.

Lovely pictures but I was expecting the book to be larger (I hadn’t read the small print!)